The invention relates to a closure device for a container and to a container equipped with such a device.
It is known to make containers for liquid, such as milk bottles made of plastics material, for example high density polyethylene. In order to avoid liquid dripping while being poured from the neck of the container, it is known to equip this neck with a pourer forming a surface for flow of the liquid. Such a pourer may be clipped on the neck. Now, taking into account the thickness of the neck and of the body of the container, the latter tend to be deformed when the pourer is clipped on. In addition, a container is generally equipped with a cap. When this cap is opened, the pourer is sometimes disconnected with respect to the neck, which imposes on the user tiresome manipulations for returning the pourer into position on a container already filled with liquid, hence considerable risks of the container tipping over and the liquid that it contains spilling.
It is a particular object of the invention to overcome these drawbacks by proposing a closure device equipped with a pourer, which comprises means for efficient catching of an assembly forming a cover and equipped with a cap, as well as with a pourer on the neck of the container, these means not involving too great a risk of deformation of the neck when the device is positioned, nor risk of disconnection of the device with respect to the neck in the course of use.
In this spirit, the invention relates to a device of the afore-mentioned type in which the assembly forming a cover comprises two catching string rims, extending radially inwards from a ring, a first rim being adapted to be engaged with an external flange of the neck, while a second rim is adapted to be engaged with an external flange of the pourer, these first and second rims defining between them a volume for receiving these flanges.
Thanks to the invention, the ring of the assembly forming cover makes it possible to immobilize the flange of the pourer and the flange of the neck in the volume defined between the catching rims, which guarantees a locking by cooperation of shapes of the assembly forming cover and of the pourer on the neck.
According to an advantageous aspect of the invention, the afore-mentioned catching edges are adapted to exert on the afore-mentioned flanges a force opposing their relative spacing apart. This force, which may be elastic due to the nature of the materials constituting the neck and the assembly forming cover, allows the flanges to be pressed one towards the other.
According to other advantageous aspects of the invention, the device incorporates one or more of the following characteristics:
The first rim forms an inclined surface with respect to a central axis of the device, this surface being flared in the direction of the body of the container. This surface which may be truncated in the case of a cylindrical neck and ring, facilitates clipping of the ring on the neck as it constitutes a ramp for radial expansion of the ring.
The rims each form a surface substantially perpendicular to a central axis of the device. These surfaces perpendicular to the central axis, which are annular in the case of a cylindrical ring, form means for efficient locking of the flanges against the ring. These surfaces may be provided to be opposite each other and the volume for receiving the flanges to be defined between them.
The flange of the pourer extends radially outwards from an edge of a skirt formed by this pourer and adapted to cover the neck. In that case, the skirt advantageously forms an inclined surface with respect to a central axis of the device, this surface being adapted to come into surface abutment against a corresponding inclined surface outside the neck.
The ring extends, opposite the cap, by a skirt adapted to come into abutment against an outer surface of a part of the container. This skirt makes it possible to mask the zone of transition between the assembly forming cover and the body of the container.
The pourer is arranged at least partially inside the neck, while the cap is provided with a skirt extending, in the afore-mentioned first position and from an inner surface of the cap, up to the level of an edge of the neck, the skirt being adapted to exert in the first position and against an inner radial surface of the pourer a force tending to apply this pourer against this edge. This skirt makes it possible to produce a tight assembly between the cap and the pourer by radial expansion of the pourer and compression against the edge of the neck.
The invention also relates to a container for liquid, particularly a plastic bottle, equipped with a closure device as described previously. Such a container is easier to manufacture than those of the state of the art, without risk of deformation of the neck when the pourer is being positioned, while the pourer does not risk being disconnected from the neck when the container is being used.